Independent Author of The Darkness Trilogy

Category Archives: Movie Releases

The Lone Ranger (PG-13) is a modern day, fast action, fist flying, train-chasing version of the classic Radio Serial hit. Armie Hammer (Mirror Mirror) is the new face of the mask-wearing hero, John Reid aka The Lone Ranger. After being transformed, seemingly brought back from the dead, by an outcast Comanche Warrior, Reid and his new Native American ally, Tonto (Johnny Depp, Dark Shadows) join forces to bring justice to a Texas town where the lawmen are just as corrupt as the bandits.

The film is directed by Gore Verbinski, who has directed several other Johnny Depp films, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise and the animated film Rango.

Despicable Me 2 (PG) Steve Carell is back as Gru, the villain with a heart. When the world is in dire need of a superhero, the AVL (Anti-Villain League) calls on none other then the criminal mastermind himself. Why? Because to beat a villain, you have to think like a villain. Gru is partnered up with Agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wig, Bridesmaids) and his daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove, iCarly), Edith (Dana Gaier, Despicable Me) and Agnes (Vertical) are determined to get the two together.

Also featuring the voices of Benjamin Bratt (Snitch) as the villainous El Macho, Russell Brand (Rock of Ages), Ken Jeong (The Hangover), Steve Coogan (The Other Guys), Nasim Pedrad (Saturday Night Live) and last but not least, the men behind the voices of the adorable minions, Mr. Pierre Coffin and Mr. Chris Renaud, who are also the film’s Directors.

In 2001, the world was introduced to Mike, Sulley and a pig-tailed, little girl named Boo. I’m talking about the character’s from Disney Pixar’s Monster’s Inc. Audiences fell in love with big guy, Sulley and his sarcastic “Scare Partner” Mike Wazowski. We all laughed when Boo tried over and over to pronounce Wazowski’s last name and failed, adorably. We discovered that Monster’s Inc. was not the place we thought it was and Sully and Wazowski, along with Boo, were the heros to save the day.

But who are Sulley and Mike? What were they like before Monster’s Inc.? What made them the monsters we know and love? In Monsters Universitywe get to see how Sulley and Mike met and how they came to be one of the best Scare Teams at Monster’s Inc.

Monsters University (G, 92 minutes) centers on the one-eyed, little, green monster, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal,Parental Guidance) as he begins his scare education at MU. He’s a smart, dedicated student who wants nothing more than to work at Monster’s Inc. and become the best scarer their world has ever seen. Then enters James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (John Goodman, The Hangover Part III), the smooth-talking monster that is known for his scare factor as well as his family’s name. As you might have guessed it, these two monsters are at odds from the start.

During one of their most important tests, Mike and Sulley are so consumed with out-scaring each other that they break a Scream Can, which holds a world-record breaking scream, that belongs to none other than the head of the Scare Program, Dean Hardscabble (Helen Mirren, RED). With not so much as batting an eyelash, the Dean kicks both monsters out of the program.

Devastated and unsure of where their educational life is headed, the monsters join forces, along with a few other not-so-scary monsters, and try to win the Scare Games. The games were created by Dean Hardscabble where different fraternities and sororities are pitied against each other to test their team work, knowledge and heart. If Mike and Sulley win, their entire team is allowed back into the Scare Program.

The members of the team have a hard time working together with Mike and Sulley battling for dominance. It becomes apparent that the monsters in the team are not what you would call “scary” at all. There is the multi-eyed and surprisingly stealthy, Squishy (Pete Sohn, Ratatouille), mature student Don (Joel Murray, God Bless America), two-headed Terry (Dave Foley, Vampires Suck) and Terri (Sean Hayes, The Three Stooges), and the sweet, but simple-minded Art (Charlie Day, Horrible Bosses).

After the first leg in the Scare Games, everyone, including them, knows they are going to have to dig deep if they even want a remote chance of winning.

This film is a great family film for the young and the parents who have a special place in their hearts for Monster’s Inc.

Zombies. Love. Zombies in love? We’ve heard it all now. If you grew up watching horror movies, George A. Romero horror movies, then you know zombies just can’t fall in love. They are mindless, soulless creatures whose only desire is to eat the warm flesh on the living. They don’t feel, think, and they definitely don’t fall in love. Still, the zombie genre has come a long, humorous way and that’s why Warm Bodies has the potential to work. At least for this generation of movie goers.

Warm Bodies stars Nicholas Hoult, star of the upcoming Jack the Giant Slayer, as R, the zombie who falls in love with Julie, played by Teresa Palmer (I am Number Four), in a post apocalyptic world where zombies have nearly wiped out the human race. After an encounter with the lovely Julie, R starts to slowly regain his humanity. Young Julie sees the changes in R and tries to convince her father, chameleon John Malkovich, and friends, Analeigh Tipton (Crazy, Stupid, Love), and Dave Franco (21 Jump Street) of his transformation. Soon, R and his friends, which includes Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine), are fighting along side the humans to save the world from far more frightening creatures, Bonies.

This is proving to be a good year for Hoult. He has come a long way from his About a Boy roots. Hoult, a British born actor, stared in the drama/comedy as a young boy who helps an emotionally immature man “grow up”. This film introduced Hoult as a talent to keep an eye on and for good reason. Since then Hoult has been in a couple of big budget movies including Clash of the Titans with Sam Worthington and X-Men: First Class starting James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. It was in X-Men: First Class that Hoult started dating his co-star (and now ex) Jennifer Lawrence who is having a great year of her own.

Hoult isn’t done yet. In 2014 he set to star with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road. In that same year the second installment of X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, is set to come out. In the film Hoult will reprise his role of the Beast. This will reunite Hoult with Fassbender, McAvoy, and even Jennifer Lawrence who plays Mystique, the shapeshifter. While that has all the ingredients of what could be a drama filled reunion, especially in Hollywood, Hoult and Lawrence have been able to keep things professional and civil. Hoult has been quite the gentlemen in fact by even wishing Lawrence well at the upcoming Oscars.

Today all the buzz has been around the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG). This awards show brings the actors, directors, screen writers, and others one step closer to the pinnacle of awards shows, The Oscars. After the Golden Globes and the SAG award shows the world can pretty much narrow down who is taking home that golden Oscar. But first, what is the Screen Actors Guild?

It all began in 1933 when actors were finally standing up to big bad studio owners. They were tired of being put on 7 year contracts and forced to work however the studio executives wanted them to. However, it wasn’t until Bette Davis (All About Eve) and Olivia de Havilland (Gone with the Wind) actually rebelled against the studio that a large headway in actor’s rights were made. More history on the SAG can be found here:

Tonight, many celebrities were in attendance for the 19th Annual SAG awards. The presenters included Jude Law, Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, and many, many more. A list of winners can be found here:

It was a great night for Ben Affleck and the rest of the Argo cast for winning Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Eyebrows were raised when Affleck was snubbed for an Oscar for the Best Director category. However, the Oscar dream isn’t over for Argo as the film is nominated for Best Picture, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Writing (Adapted Screenplay), and Music.

Jennifer Lawrence took home a SAG for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her portrayal of a troubled window in the critically acclaimed Silver Linings Playbook. Unfortuantly, her co-star, Bradly Cooper, didn’t take home the SAG for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role. That award went to Daniel Day-Lewis for his amazing work in Lincoln. Now back to Jennifer, it really is no big surprise the actress won considering she has been cleaning up this year at each awards show. Still, this is amazing for the young actress to hold her own against the likes of Helen Mirren (Hitchcock), Naomi Watts (Impossible), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), and Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone).

Last week at the Box Office, Zero Dark Thirty took Texas Chainsaw 3D completely out of the running with its sweep of $24.4 million in ticket sales. A Haunted House was hardly a close second with $18.1 Million and Gangster Squad trailed not far behind with $17.1 Million of its own. Django Unchained and Les Miserables rounded out the top five. But there’s a whole new group of movies slated to open this weekend. Let’s get into it shall we?

Broken City (R) stars Mark Wahlberg as Billy Taggart, an ex New York city cop who is framed by the corrupt Mayor Hostetler, Russell Crowe, for murder. Taggart then sets out on a vengeance fueled mission for justice. The film also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as Crowe’s wife and Jeffrey Wright (Quantum of Solace). While action movies do well in theaters it stands to reason that this film will have trouble outshining other hot films that’s being released this weekend. The Box Office fate of this film is solely in the hands of movie goers.

In The Last Stand (R), Ray Owens, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a small town sheriff headed for big time trouble when a group of drug dealers, lead by Burrell (Peter Stormare, Lockout) and Gabriel Cortez, an escaped convict, (Eduardo Noriega, The Devil’s Backbone), tear through his city on their way to Mexico. Forest Whitaker plays Agent John Bannister, the agent involved in the initial apprehension of the Cortez. The cast is rounded out by Johnny Knoxville, Luis Guzman, and Jaimie Alexander (Thor).

Then we have Mama (PG-13), starring Jessica Chastain ( Zero Dark Thirty ) as Annabel and N ikolaj Coster-Waldau ( Headhunters ) as Lucas. The couple takes in Lucas’ nieces, Victoria and Lily, who have been lost in the wilderness for 5 years. When the girls move in strange things start to happen and the couple discovers they are interacting to an unseen being they call “ Mama ”. The film is written and directed by Andres Muschietti. Back in 2008, Muschietti wrote and directed a short film called Mama , a Spanish film, which the U.S. motion picture Mama is based on. Let us not forget that the film is being Executively Produced by Writer/Director Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy , Pan’s Labyrinth).

While all three movies have potential, I think Jessica Chastain will be competing with herself this weekend. Between Zero Dark Thirty getting extreme exposure and Mama seeming like a fresh new take on horror, the actress may have first and second place at the Box Office.

Several films will be hitting theaters this weekend. Some of the most anticipated are Zero Dark Thirty, A Haunted House, and Gangster Squad. The question is, which film will come out on top at the box office? Better yet, will these films be able to overtake the current top three: Texas Chainsaw 3D, Django Unchained, and The Hobbit? What kind of potential do these movies really have?

A Haunted House, written by Marlon Wayans and Rick Alvarez, is a spoof on the Paranormal Activity franchise, Sinister, and The Devil Within. The film stars Marlon Wayans and Essence Atkins as the unlucky couple who move into a house haunted by a demon. It sounds exactly like the plot of the first Paranormal Activity movie, but all the scary parts will surely be replaced my crude and over the top humor. Does this have the potential to be number one come Monday morning? Chances are slim, but stranger things have happened.

Next there is Gangster Squad, directed by Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, about a group of LAPD police officers who take on big fish gangster, Mickey Cohen. Cohen is portrayed by Sean Penn, who sort of looks like a cartoon character with his new nose. Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, to name a few, round out the cast. This film has the cast, the action, and the plot to do well. However, will the majority of people who will be drawn to this type of movie come out the theater this weekend?

Finally, there is Zero Dark Thirty, staring Jessica Chastain as a CIA operative on a mission to find Osama Bin Laden after the attacks on America on September 11, 2001. The film is based on the real life story of this mission, the CIAs working the case, and the Navy Seals that are sent out in search of one of the most villainous people of our time. Kathryn Bigelow, known for directing The Hurt Locker, is also in the director’s seat for this one. Those associated with Zero Dark Thirty must be doing something right because it was just announced that the film is up for an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound Editing.